Stand Tall

Part Thirteen: Drink Up

Braith and Merlin shot from the water, and collapsed, gasping on the pond's muddy rim. Still out of breath, they ran back towards the castle. The Dane girl kicked open the doors to the great hall, where her father and a few other noblemen were speaking.

"No time for explanations - I need you to outfit our fastest ship for an immediate voyage. It's an emergency," she commanded the King. The look on her face was terrifyingly determined, so much so that her father complied with her brash request. The rescue mission was underway within minutes.

---

"Have you heard?" Gawain purred as he joined Gwen in the corridor.

"I know Braith was imprisoned, and now she's missing. What do you mean?"

"I mean, our friend Merlin's involved in a little scandal." the knight gossiped. Gwen's jaw dropped.

"You're saying-"

"They ran off together. In the middle of the night, they split for God knows where!"

"That doesn't sound like something Merlin would do..."

"Love makes people do crazy things sometimes."

"You two, wait," called Elyan from down the corridor. "Arthur needs us in the great hall, now." They exchanged a worried glance before sprinting off towards the Prince.

Unferth stood before Arthur with a horn in his hands and an impassive look on his face. "It was a gift from the Princess, Sire. To make peace between Dane and Camelot. She wanted you to have it, in all good will," he spoke, the drawling tone of his voice cutting through the silence. "Take a drink, seal the peace."

"It could be poisoned. The girl's a witch, there's no telling what she might do," a nervous nobleman spoke up.

"He's right. Usually Merlin would be the one to test it, but seeing as he isn't here..." Arthur suggested, unsure.

"I'll do it," Gawain piped up, thinking only of the mead held within. Unferth handed him the gold drinking horn, the ruby in its handle seeming to wink at them. The knight tipped his head back, and the mead coming ever closer to his lips. Bang!

"Stop!" Braith bellowed after barging through the doors, her lover less than a step behind. Gawain looked up to see what the disturbance was about, but it was too late. One drop, just one tiny drop of golden mead fell into his mouth. The castle shook as if in an earthquake. He could see his friend Merlin and the rogue princess, holding on to each other for dear life. But as suddenly as it began, the earthquake stopped, and King Uther realized what had just occurred.

"That girl is a magician," he roared, "You can't let her get away again!"

"I am," Braith bellowed, "no more evil than some of the men you take in your service, but I am far worse than the hundreds of innocent pagans you slaughtered."

Silence reigned in the room. Uther was unable to put words to his indignation.

"I'm sorry, my lord, but what I've have to say is a little more important than my imprisonment," she said under her breath, climbing onto a table so everyone could see her. "Citizens of Camelot," she addressed the group of astounded people. "Your king may well want to kill me for speaking my mind. Or for being a Northman. Or, really, for being any of the things that I am by nature. I can, however, assure you there are people in this room with less of a heart than I. Now. You can choose whether or not to listen to me, but something is coming. Here, to Camelot. And it's older, and fouler, and more angry than anything you've fought before. Ladies and gentlemen, I beg you - get out of here while you can," she finished gravely. A petrified silence followed, and then panic. Chaos. People ran for every exit, goblets clattered to the floor, Merlin grabbed Gawain by the sleeve and pulled him along after Braith. The two magicians ran for the woods, with the four knights being dragged behind them.

---

"Did you have to cause a mass panic?" Leon panted when they finally stopped in the woods.

"...Yes...That way...we could disappear...easily," Braith justified herself, exhausted from running this far. "We need to make camp. It'll be getting dark soon, and we'd best prepare ourselves for a fight."

"Why? Is the war back on or something?" Gawain asked with worry.

"Kind of..." Merlin began. The knights stared at him and then Braith.

"So...she's supposed to be our enemy?" Percival asked cautiously.

"No, the war isn't against the people of Dane, but a monster. Gawain - did you drink from that?" Braith asked, gesturing to the horn still clutched in the knight's hand. He looked at it in surprise.

"I don't think I swallowed any, no. Pity," he remarked. Braith sighed with relief. "Some did get in my mouth though, if that means anything."

The Dane yelled in wordless frustration, but Merlin spoke first.

"The horn was meant for Arthur, but you were to test it for poison, in my absence. Right?"

"Yes..."

"Whoever drinks from that thing is the creature's next victim," the servant explained, trying in his mind to come up with something resembling a plan.

"Unferth's working with Her, I should have seen it before," Braith said, anxiously running a hand through her hair. "Now She thinks you're Arthur, and is going to try an'... kill you." She took a seat at the base of a tree and put her face in her hands. She hadn't slept in a while now.

"Then you go back to Camelot. I'll stay here and fight him," he suggested valiantly.

"Her. And no, you're not doing this alone," Merlin corrected. "Braith?" The girl hesitated.

"If the five of you are willing to fight with me," she began, looking around at the faces she'd come to know, "Then it'd be my honor."
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A/N: Yes, about the knights...
I know I'm spelling Gwaine's name differently than they did in the Adventures of Merlin, but in the other Camelot-related stuff I've seen, they spell it like: Gawain. So, yeah, climax coming soon!